That’s all for today.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Jan. 2, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS — Rick Adelman was wondering how his young Minnesota Timberwolves would handle their first taste of prosperity.

He couldn’t have been much happier after watching them thump the San Antonio Spurs, who now find themselves knee deep in adversity with the loss of star guard Manu Ginobili.

Kevin Lovehad 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to their second win in a row, 106-96 Monday night over the Spurs, who lost Ginobili to a broken left hand.

Luke Ridnour had 19 points and nine assists and Wes Johnson broke out of a shooting slump with 14 points and 6-for-6 shooting for the Timberwolves, who snapped an 18-game losing streak with a win over Dallas on Sunday.

“You’re not satisfied with last night, you build off of it,” said Adelman, whose Wolves scored 65 points in the first half on the second night of a back-to-back. “That’s what I just told them. We’ve got two more home games on this homestand and we want to build off it.”

Ginobili injured his shooting hand in the second quarter. The two-time All-Star will be examined in San Antonio on Tuesday.

“It’s going to be tough for us because he was playing at an All-Star level,” said point guard Tony Parker, who had 11 points and nine assists. “And now we’re going to have to have everybody pick it up.”

Tim Duncan had 16 points and five assists and Richard Jefferson scored 16 points for the Spurs.

The Timberwolves shot 58 percent for the game and were above 70 percent shooting midway through the third quarter.

Playing with five stitches in the index finger on his shooting hand, Michael Beasley had 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting and Johnson bounced back after going 3 for 13 in his previous two games.

“I was pressing,” Johnson said. “I was trying to find my shot moreso than letting it come to me. As I saw tonight, if I just be patient, it’s there.”

The Spurs will get over the loss to Minnesota quickly. The loss of Ginobili could linger for a while.

The team’s leading scorer is the emotional and fiery center of this proud, veteran team. With Duncan getting older and having his minutes limited to save him for the postseason, the offense revolves around Ginobili’s perimeter shooting and slashing to the basket.

“Manu is pretty important to us and we lost him,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’ll just have to deal with it.”

The former Sixth Man of the Year quickly walked to the locker room after he was injured for X-rays, which revealed a broken fifth metacarpal on his shooting hand.

“He means a lot to the team,” said James Anderson, who figures to get a lot of the playing time in Ginobili’s absence. “He’s one of the biggest plusses to the team. Without him we lose a lot of stuff, and that’s on both ends.”

Without Ginobili’s offensive punch, the Spurs simply couldn’t keep up with Minnesota’s torrid shooting.

The Spurs have hung their hats on the defensive end for years, building a championship foundation that let opponents know they were going to have to work for every bucket against Duncan and Co. Coming into the game, they held their previous two opponents to 4 for 33 on 3-pointers.

That’s why it was so startling to see the Timberwolves have such an easy time on Monday night. They shot a scorching 67 percent from the field in the first half, including 7 for 8 from 3-point range. A lot of those were wide open looks for Love, who buried 3 of 4 from long range thanks to superb ball movement from Ridnour and Ricky Rubio at the point.

The Wolves hit 12 of 21 shots from deep for the game.

Rubio, the impressive rookie from Spain, was quiet with six points and three assists in 24 minutes, but the veteran Ridnour more than picked up the slack by hitting seven of his 10 shots and two of three 3-pointers.

“There’s going to be so many games this year, if you can try to find a way to get on a run at home, it’s going to help you in the long run,” Ridnour said. “To be able to win two in a row against Dallas and San Antonio, for this team, is huge.”

Notes

• Timberwolves G JJ Barea sat out the game to rest his strained right hamstring.
• Spurs G Gary Neal, who has not played this season because of an appendectomy, has been assigned to the D-League Austin Toros to get some practice time in before rejoining the team.
• Danny Green played a solid 17 minutes for the Spurs, scoring nine points and playing tough defense on Rubio.

Thanks for reading! .

January 2, 2012 – NBA Development League (D-League)
NEW YORK, Jan. 2, 2012 – The San Antonio Spurs assigned guard Gary Neal to the Austin Toros, the Spurs’ NBA D-League affiliate, it was announced today. The assignments mark the tenth time in the 2011-12 season an NBA player has been assigned to an NBA D-League affiliate. It marks the first assignment for Neal.

Neal (6-4, 210) is in his second season with the Spurs and was named to the 2010-11 NBA All-Rookie First Team. Undrafted out of Towson, Neal appeared in 80 games last season averaging 9.8 points while shooting .451 from the field, .419 from three-point range, and .808 from the free throw line. He has not played this season for the Spurs after undergoing a successful appendectomy last month.

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Published: Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011 9:18 p.m. MST

Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news.

SAN ANTONIO: The San Antonio Spurs, not quite ready to be written off as too old and too slow to claim an NBA crown, routed the Los Angeles Clippers 115-90 on Wed­nes­day.

Manu Ginobili scored 24 points, leading six Spurs players who scored in double figures.

DeJuan Blair added 20 and Richard Jefferson chipped in 19. Tony Parker scored 14 points with nine assists, Tim Duncan scored 10 with eight rebounds and James Anderson added 12 off the bench as the Spurs shot 56.3% from the field.

The Spurs also made all 15 of their free throws, but coach Gregg Popovich said defence was the key to victory.

“Shots went in tonight,” Popovich said. “That’s what happens. Some nights they don’t drop. Tonight the best part of our game was defence.”

And that’s what was lacking for the Clippers, coach Vinny Del Negro said.

“Give San Antonio credit – they were cutting hard, they were moving the basketball, we were very stagnant,” he said. “We weren’t physical. We weren’t contesting shots…

“We played terrible, just from start to finish tonight,” Del Negro said.

“We had a little glimpse in the second quarter, I thought we did some good things. But they jumped on us in the third and we were just chasing them the rest of the game.”

The Clippers have been touted as a potential new power in the Western Conference after the arrival of All-Star point guard Chris Paul to team with Blake Griffin, the explosive talent who earned Rookie of the Year honours last season.

Griffin led the Clippers with 28 points, while Paul scored 10 on 3-of-10 shooting.

The Spurs, long a Western Conference force, won 61 games last season but were surprised in the first round of the playoffs by a young, energetic Memphis team, sparking predictions that the team led by 35-year-old Duncan and featuring 34-year-old Ginobili and 29-year-old Parker had passed their prime.

In their first two games of this lockout-shortened season, however, the Spurs have now beaten both Memphis and the Clippers.

San Antonio led by as many as 12 points before Griffin capped a Clippers surge by soaring for a basket that knotted the score at 52-52 late in the second quarter.

A Ginobili three-pointer saw the Spurs take a 58-54 lead at half-time, and San Antonio took firm control in the third period, when they out-scored Los Angeles by 21 points to take a 96-71 lead.

The comfortable victory meant Popovich was able to give his stars some rest. Duncan played 25 minutes, Parker 26 and Ginobili 27.

“You wouldn’t trade it,” Popovich said of the luxury of resting his veterans for significant minutes.

It could prove especially important in the hectic, lockout-shortened season.

“It was a good night for us, and to get some rest was surely welcome,” Popovich said.

In New Orleans, Jarrett Jack had 21 points and nine assists in his regular-season debut, and New Orleans dominated in their home opener, beating the winless Boston Celtics 97-78.

Danny Granger scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as Indiana Pacers beat the Raptors 90 to 85. Paul George had 18 points, David West scored 14 and Roy Hibbert had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

At Auburn Hills, Michigan, rookie Kyrie Irving had 14 points and seven assists to help Cleveland Cavaliers beat Detroit 105 to 89, spoiling the Pistons’ first home opener with new owner Tom Gores.

Meanwhile Joe Johnson led another balanced attack with 18 points as as Atlanta beat Washington 101 to 83.

At Denver, Nene scored 25 points, reserve Al Harrington had 18 points and seven rebounds, and Denver rolled over the Utah 117 to 100.

At Charlotte, North Carolina, Dwyane Wade hit a bank shot over Gerald Henderson with 2.9 seconds left to lift unbeaten Miami over Charlotte 96 to 95.

In the other games Oklahoma City beat Memphis 98 to 95, Golden State beat New York 92-78, Philadelphia routed Phoenix 103 to 83, Atlanta beat Washington 101 to 83. — Agencies

That’s all for today guys, i’ll be back to blog you tomorrow.

CBSSports.com wire reports
Dec. 28, 2011

SAN ANTONIO — The Los Angeles Clippers might be the talk of the Western Conference right now, but the San Antonio Spurs showed they still have plenty of life left.

Manu Ginobili scored 24 points and DeJuan Blair added 20 to lead the Spurs to a 115-90 win over the Clippers on Wednesday night.

Blake Griffin scored 28 points for the Clippers, while Chris Paul was held to 3-of-10 shooting and finished with 10 points.

Richard Jefferson added 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Spurs, who have won 17 straight home games against the Clippers, a streak that dates to Jan. 31, 2002. Tony Parker scored 14 points, James Anderson 12 and Tim Duncan 10.

The Spurs hit 45 of 80 shots from the field while limiting the Clippers to 29-of-74 shooting. San Antonio led by only four points at halftime but outscored Los Angeles 38-17 in the third quarter to take control.

“Our defense in the second half was great,” Ginobili said. “They couldn’t get lobs. They scored under 40 in the second half. We were pretty good on defense. We moved the ball, and everybody scored.”

San Antonio outscored Los Angeles 57-36 in the second half.

“They tore us apart in that third quarter,” Griffin said. “Our defense needs to be better, and it can get better. The good thing about the mistakes out there is that they are easily correctable.”

While Blair didn’t limit Griffin’s scoring, he was able to do enough offensively to nearly offset him.

“I try to read them,” Blair said. “They’re very athletic. They jump high. I jump a little bit, but I’m undersized, so I just try to read them. Just look for schemes to get around the taller defenders. I watch a lot of Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, try to get a low shot. But I’m doing great with what I’m doing.”

The Clippers weren’t able to get closer than 19 in the fourth quarter. After DeAndre Jordan’s free throw made it 98-79, Ginobili hit a 3-pointer then found Blair for a short jumper to put the Spurs up 103-79.

“They’re dunkers,” Blair said while laughing when asked about the Clippers being called Lob City. “But, yeah, not tonight.

The Spurs hit 16 of 21 shots in the third, with Parker scoring 10 on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 2 of 2 from the free throw line. Anderson converted a three-point play with 0.3 seconds left in the quarter to give San Antonio its biggest lead of the game at that point – 96-71.

“We were down four, and I look up to see we are down 68-58 at one point,” Paul said. “We are going to practice tomorrow and figure out what we did right and figure out what we did wrong. First things first, we need to start with me.”

The Spurs led 58-54 at halftime behind 16 points from Ginobili, who hit 4 of 6 attempts from 3-point range in the half.

Blair added 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Jefferson had 10, including a pair of 3-pointers. Griffin had 16 points in the first two quarters and scored all but four of those points on either layups or dunks.

San Antonio led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but the Clippers went on a 16-4 run and tied the game 52-all on Griffin’s dunk with 47 seconds left in the half.

The Spurs led 26-19 entering the second quarter after holding the Clippers to 8-of-22 shooting in the first. The Clippers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Ginobili responded by scoring the next nine points. Ginobili sandwiched two 3-pointers around three free throws after he was fouled by Chauncey Billups on a 3-pointer.

I’m kind of surprised,” Ginobili said of the team’s 2-0 start. “I didn’t think that the team was ready to have two games like this — to be so solid defensively. We’re looking sharp, but I don’t want to get too confident. I don’t think it’s fair or it’s true. We still have a long way to go. It just so happened we played two very good games.”

Notes

• Jordan hit 4 of 6 free throws. He went 4 of 12 in the opener against Golden State.
• Since Dec. 10, 1997, the Spurs have won 47 of 52 against the Clippers.
• The Spurs are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2008.
• The big win allowed the Spurs to rest several key players. Duncan played 26 minutes, while Ginobili and Parker played only 27.
• Caron Butler and Mo Williams each had 12 points for the Clippers. Billups had 11. Ginobili hit 5 of 8 3-pointers and 7 of 7 free throws.

Comment Below!.

Reporting from San Antonio — They are the new-look Clippers, a team with savvy veterans, All-Stars and with high hopes for the season.

But these Clippers will tell anyone that will listen that this is a process that will take time before they can become whole.

In the process of that happening, these Clippers got treated like all the other Clippers teams before them, taking a beating from the San Antonio Spurs, 115-90, Wednesday night at the AT&T Center.

The 2011-12 Clippers were put through the same torture chamber the Clippers before them have experienced, extending the losing streak in San Antonio to 17 games. The last victory came here on Jan. 31, 2002.

The Spurs own a 64-8 margin over the Clippers here and have won 19 of the last 20 games overall.

“This is the start of a process for us,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We’ve got to find a way to get better every day. I keep on talking about that. It’s not going to be easy.”

One place the Clippers have to start the process is on defense.

They trailed by as much as 27 points.

They allowed the Spurs to make 56.3% of their shots, 52.6% (10 for 19) on three-pointers.

“We haven’t been together for how many days? We’re not making any excuses,” said Chris Paul, one of the new Clippers. “So, yeah, it [defense] can be an issue that can be resolved. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

They seemingly couldn’t stop any of the Spurs.

Manu Ginobili had 24 points on six-for-10 shooting, five for eight on three-pointers.

DeJuan Blair had 20 points on 10-for-15 shooting and Richard had Jefferson 19 points on eight-for-nine shooting, three for four on three-pointers.

Tony Parker had 10 of his 14 points in the decisive third quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Clippers, 38-17.

“We just played terrible, just from start to finish, I thought,” Del Negro said.

Unlike the Clippers, the Spurs have been together for a while, something that Chauncey Billups says benefits San Antonio during the 66-game season.

Tim Duncan (35), Ginobili (34) and Parker (29) have won three NBA championships together.

“I just think in a season like this, where it was a short camp, a team like that is going to prosper,” Billups, also one of the new Clippers, said after scoring 11 points. “They’ve got all their guys back that have played together. But at the same time, we’re down four at the half and to get beat by 25, that’s not pretty.”

The Clippers trailed by 15 in the second quarter, but pulled to within four at halftime.

They went down by 25 in the third and never recovered.

Their defense was the worst of the game at that point. The Clippers saw the Spurs do as they pleased in shooting 76.2% from the field in the third quarter.

“They are not going to beat themselves. You’ve got to beat them,” said Paul, who finished with 10 points and nine assists. “We’ve got to defend.”

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 28 points and nine rebounds.

It mattered little because the Clippers were so porous on defense.

Six Spurs scored in double figures, and they showed the Clippers how defense is played, limiting them to 39.2% shooting.

“We’re not there yet,” Paul said. “When you get to that point in the season where we just stop teams, that’s when you’re ready.”

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That’s all the news for today.

Gotta run!.

Reporting from San Antonio — They are the new-look Clippers, a team with savvy veterans, All-Stars and with high hopes for the season.

But these Clippers will tell anyone that will listen that this is a process that will take time before they can become whole.

In the process of that happening, these Clippers got treated like all the other Clippers teams before them, taking a beating from the San Antonio Spurs, 115-90, Wednesday night at the AT&T Center.

The 2011-12 Clippers were put through the same torture chamber the Clippers before them have experienced, extending the losing streak in San Antonio to 17 games. The last victory came here on Jan. 31, 2002.

The Spurs own a 64-8 margin over the Clippers here and have won 19 of the last 20 games overall.

“This is the start of a process for us,” Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We’ve got to find a way to get better every day. I keep on talking about that. It’s not going to be easy.”

One place the Clippers have to start the process is on defense.

They trailed by as much as 27 points.

They allowed the Spurs to make 56.3% of their shots, 52.6% (10 for 19) on three-pointers.

“We haven’t been together for how many days? We’re not making any excuses,” said Chris Paul, one of the new Clippers. “So, yeah, it [defense] can be an issue that can be resolved. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

They seemingly couldn’t stop any of the Spurs.

Manu Ginobili had 24 points on six-for-10 shooting, five for eight on three-pointers.

DeJuan Blair had 20 points on 10-for-15 shooting and Richard had Jefferson 19 points on eight-for-nine shooting, three for four on three-pointers.

Tony Parker had 10 of his 14 points in the decisive third quarter, when the Spurs outscored the Clippers, 38-17.

“We just played terrible, just from start to finish, I thought,” Del Negro said.

Unlike the Clippers, the Spurs have been together for a while, something that Chauncey Billups says benefits San Antonio during the 66-game season.

Tim Duncan (35), Ginobili (34) and Parker (29) have won three NBA championships together.

“I just think in a season like this, where it was a short camp, a team like that is going to prosper,” Billups, also one of the new Clippers, said after scoring 11 points. “They’ve got all their guys back that have played together. But at the same time, we’re down four at the half and to get beat by 25, that’s not pretty.”

The Clippers trailed by 15 in the second quarter, but pulled to within four at halftime.

They went down by 25 in the third and never recovered.

Their defense was the worst of the game at that point. The Clippers saw the Spurs do as they pleased in shooting 76.2% from the field in the third quarter.

“They are not going to beat themselves. You’ve got to beat them,” said Paul, who finished with 10 points and nine assists. “We’ve got to defend.”

Blake Griffin led the Clippers with 28 points and nine rebounds.

It mattered little because the Clippers were so porous on defense.

Six Spurs scored in double figures, and they showed the Clippers how defense is played, limiting them to 39.2% shooting.

“We’re not there yet,” Paul said. “When you get to that point in the season where we just stop teams, that’s when you’re ready.”

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Gotta run!.

By Eric Stephen

– Managing Editor

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Dec 28, 2011 – The Los Angeles Clippers look to do something Wednesday night that they haven’t done in nearly a decade as they head to Texas to battle the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. The Clippers have lost each of their last 16 games in San Antonio, with their last win coming on January 31, 2002.

The Clippers won on Christmas night in Oakland, a 105-86 victory over the Golden State Warriors. Chris Paul had 20 points and nine assists in his Clippers debut, and new backcourt mate Chauncey Billups scored 21 points. Fellow Clipper newcomer Caron Butler grabbed 10 rebounds to go with his 11 points.

In addition to the road losing streak to the Spurs, the Clippers had an 18-game losing streak overall to San Antonio that was snapped last season with a 90-85 win on December 1, 2010 in Los Angeles. Blake Griffin scored 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the win. Griffin averaged 19.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in three games against the Spurs last season.

The Spurs beat the Memphis Grizzlies 95-82 at home on Monday in their only game this season, led by 24 points by Manu Ginobili. They are 14-1 in season openers under head coach Gregg Popovich. The Clippers are 8-63 all-time in San Antonio.

Wednesday’s 5:30 p.m. PST game will be televised by Prime Ticket. For more Clippers news and information, be sure to read Clips Nation.

Read More: Chris Paul (G – LAC), Chauncey Billups (G – LAC), Manu Ginobili (G – SAN), Caron Butler (F – LAC), Blake Griffin (F – LAC), Gregg Popovich (H – SAN), San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Clippers at San Antonio Spurs, Dec 28, 2011 5:30 PM PST

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Some say the San Antonio Spurs will go as far as their so-called Big three – Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili – will carry them this year.

That may be so, but the notion that they are an old team getting older may not be the case as some believe.

Without much fanfare, the Spurs have brought in some young blood and it was evident that some of those new and young players have improved enough to help the team. That was clear Monday night as the Spurs raced past the Memphis Grizzlies, 95-82 in the season’s opener.

As usual, the top two scorers were Ginobili with 24 and Parker with 15. A pleasant surprise was Richard Jefferson who chipped in 14, most of them coming in the second period. If Jefferson continues to contribute, then the trade that didn’t happen will be a good move for the Spurs.

The good news Monday night was that the Spurs used defense to hold back a team that manhandled them last year and eliminated them from the playoffs. Defense was the Spurs forte when they were winning NBA titles a few years ago but last year, the Spurs were slow on defense and that’s why many thought they were getting old and out of contention.

A lot of the Spurs defensive pressure Monday night came from Parker who had four steals and from Kawhi Leonard, a rookie who came to San Antonio after they traded away popular guard George Hill, a great defender in his own right.

Leonard showed good defense and his all-around hustle and speed seemed to feed off on the other Spurs who made the Grizzlies look like an ordinary team – especially in the third period when the Spurs outscored them 29-14.

Former Texas Longhorn guard TJ. Ford showed flashes of his Longhorn self with his ability to handle the ball and find the open man. He made some nifty passes that led to points and it looks like he’ll help the team.

Another pleasant surprise, as far as I’m concerned, was the play and improvement of Tiago Splitter, the 7-foot center from Brazil, who was a disappointment last year. Injuries had a lot to do with his slow start but I’m hopeful that he’ll turn into one of the league’s top big men and take pressure off Duncan who is the Spurs only dominant big man in the middle.

As long as the big three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker stay healthy, the Spurs should be in the thick of the race for another title as we start the new year fresh.

Here’s wishing the Spurs much success in 2011 and to all of you a prosperous New Year.

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Reporting from San Antonio — History hasn’t been kind to the Clippers when they have faced the San Antonio Spurs.

There was the time the Clippers lost 18 straight games to the Spurs.

There is the 29-113 overall record the franchise has produced against the Spurs.

There is the nearly 10-year drought for the Clippers in San Antonio, site of Wednesday night’s game.

Not many teams have had success against the Spurs, who won four NBA championships from 1999 to 2007.

“They’ve had great success and they’ve had it for a reason,” said Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro, who played six years with the Spurs, his final season when Tim Duncan was a rookie. “You’re going to have to go in there and win a game. They’re not going to give you anything with all their experience.”

The last time the Clippers won in San Antonio was Jan. 31, 2002, a 91-87 victory.

The Clippers had lost 18 consecutive games to the Spurs until L.A. pulled out a 90-85 victory at Staples Center on Dec. 1, 2010.

Chris Paul felt that same pain against the Spurs when he played for the New Orleans Hornets.

Both were in the Southwest Division that the Spurs ruled during his six years in New Orleans. They met four times a year, usually with the Spurs coming out on top.

“I’ve played against San Antonio probably more than anybody else I’ve played against in the league, and they are just steady,” Paul said. “That’s the thing that you learn to love about them. They have a method and they stick to it.”

Paul marveled at how successful Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have been with the Spurs over their careers.

“They are definitely considered one of the best teams in the West,” Paul said. “Anybody who knows basketball knows that. People can say whatever they want — they are getting old — but to me they just get wiser.… As long as those guys are on the court, they are going to be a really good team.”

Duncan, at 35, is not the player he once was. He doesn’t jump as high and can’t carry the Spurs the way he once could.

But he’s still the Big Fundamental, someone Clippers center DeAndre Jordan has much respect for and will spend plenty of time defending.

“He’s a Hall of Famer,” Jordan said. “It’s always great to play against him. I just have to be patient on defense against them because they’ll pump-fake a lot, especially Duncan, DeJuan Blair and Tiago Splitter. But I’m still going to try and protect the paint as much as possible, whether it’s a blocked shot or just try to alter shots.”

Rebound, rebound, rebound

With the 6-foot-11 Jordan and 6-10 Blake Griffin playing above the rim, it wouldn’t figure the Clippers would have problems collecting rebounds.

But that hasn’t been the case — not in the two exhibition games against the Lakers and not in the season opener against the Golden State Warriors.

The fact that the Clippers have given up so many offensive rebounds is an issue.

The Lakers had 10 offensive rebounds in the each game and the Warriors had 17 on Sunday night.

“We need to get better on the defensive end, no question,” Del Negro said. “That is a concern and I think we can do a better job.”

Last season, the Clippers averaged 42.1 rebounds a game, which ranked them 15th in the NBA.

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Gotta run!.

By Tom Ziller

– NBA Editor

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Dec 27, 2011 – The San Antonio Spurs began their season avenging their last losses of the 2010-11 season, taking down the visiting Memphis Grizzlies 95-82. Memphis’ offense was awful — that should go without saying, given the point total — with the Grizzlies coughing up 24 turnovers in 96 possessions and hitting just three three-pointers (the latter of which is fairly normal for this club). The turnover problem was widespread. Six Grizzlies, including all five starters, had at least three turnovers in the game. Excepting Marc Gasol (5-6), the Grizzlies’ starting five, usually the bedrock of this team, shot 16-40 from the floor.

San Antonio got a vintage performance from Manu Ginobili, who struggled with injury during last April’s playoff series between these teams. Manu scored 24 points on 7-15 shooting. San Antonio only turned the ball over 13 times, essentially giving the Spurs 11 extra shooting possessions. It’s difficult to lose when you have so many additional opportunities to get the ball up.

For more on the Spurs, visit Pounding The Rock. For more on the Grizzlies, visit Straight Outta Vancouver.

Read More: Manu Ginobili (G – SAN), Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs, Dec 26, 2011 8:30 PM EST

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The AT&T Center was rocking for the San Antonio Spurs NBA season-opener Monday night. It was a sell out crowd, including Spurs owner Peter Holt, actor Tommy Lee Jones and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin of Baylor, and the home team did not disappoint pulling away for a 95-82 win over Memphis. The crowd was very much into the game, as fans all across Texas (including myself) were happy that the delayed NBA season was finally underway.

The victory was sweet revenge for San Antonio, as they were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last year by the Grizzlies. It should also be noted that the Grizzlies are at full strength now with Rudy Gay back from injury, and everyone on the roster relatively healthy at this point.

The first half of the game was a back and forth affair, with the Spurs getting off to a slow start in the first quarter but coming on in the second. Memphis scored 22 points in both quarters of the first half to take a one point lead into the locker room.

Coach Popovich must have given the Spurs a rousing halftime speech as the came out breathing fire on defense in the third quarter, holding the Grizzlies to just 15 points while putting up 29. Memphis could not play enough defense to slow the Spurs down and San Antonio ended up with a 13 point margin of victory.

It took the Spurs a few minutes to get into form, but overall it was the Grizzlies who seemed rusty on the court. Memphis coach Lionel Hollins summed up his team’s performance succinctly, “We didn’t play well at all.”

Manu Ginobli was the leading scorer for the Spurs and in the game with 24 points. Second year center Tiago Splitter also turned in a solid performance with 5 points and 8 rebounds. Rudy Gay led Memphis with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The Spurs went back to the old-style in your face defense that has been their trademark to notch this win, and coach Pop wisely limited Tim Duncan to just 22 minutes in the game. The Spurs face another talented young team in the up-and-coming Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday December 28 in LA.

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